CHANGE

SURGICAL
TRAINING
JDOCS AND SURGICAL TRAINING
What do the latest developments in the pre-vocational
surgical domain mean to SET Trainees?
to do with SET Trainees? Surely having managed to get our
foot in the door at Spring Street means those pre-vocational
days are a thing of the past. However, closer scrutiny of the
JDocs key clinical tasks, reveal competencies that are part of
SET curriculum, though possibly at the early level. As such
the online resources continue to be relevant for all Trainees,
SET or otherwise. On the recommendation of the Skills and
Education Committee, the extended JDocs resources will be
available to all Trainees (as well as Fellows and IMGs) as part
of their existing college subscription.
Also in reality, SET Trainees serve as inadvertent
ambassadors for surgical training to our junior colleagues. As
those who have most recently been successful in achieving
admittance to an increasingly competitive vocational program,
current Trainees are a natural resource to elicit application
savoir-faire. As such Trainees too should be aware of this
purposefully constructed set of educational resources that
would be most useful for our junior colleagues, particularly
since the Generic Surgical Sciences Exam (GSSE) has become
available in the pre-training domain.
As Trainees progress through training and graduate
in seniority so to comes the increasing responsibility in
supervision of junior team members. It is anticipated that
senior Trainees will be increasingly called on to sign off on
key clinical tasks as their juniors accomplish them. However
it is unclear at this stage the role of SET Trainees in sign-off
or if that prerogative will remain with RACS Fellows alone. I
expect that information will be made available once the JDocs
subscriptions with e-Portfolio and MALT access is available in
Jan 2016.
Continuing traditions
While its more than two thousand years since the time of
Hippocrates, the Hippocratic tradition of preparing the
next generation of doctors and surgeons continues. While
training may no longer be ‘without fee or stipulation’ (instead
there is no shortage of both), the transmission of the Art of
Surgery continues to be developed and delivered in keeping
with traditional precepts but employing every other mode of
instruction including a novel suite of online resources.
SU MEI HOH
Skills and Education Committee, RACSTA
“…To teach them this Art, if they shall wish to learn it,
without fee or stipulation; and by precept, lecture, and every
other mode of instruction, I will impart a knowledge of the Art
to my own sons, and those of my teachers, and to disciples who
have signed the covenant and have taken the oath to the law of
medicine…”
The Oath of Hippocrates
The above oath has passed all our lips at some stage
of our medical careers, usually recited in unison
with our graduating cohort from medical school.
It is a testament to the importance our profession places
on teaching the next generation of would be doctors and
surgeons. In keeping with this tradition the College of
surgeons has long been, not only the guardians of the
standards of surgical practice, but also the gatekeepers to
surgical training.
Enter JDocs
The college’s most recent development in the training of
the next generation of surgeons is JDocs. In recent years, as
more medical graduates have entered the workforce, so too
has the increased number of pre-vocational years for junior
doctors as they wait (and hope) for a spot among the finite
positions for specialist training. Pre-vocational positions
have long been seen as ‘service’ jobs, as there has not been a
mandated training framework beyond internship/PGY2. It is
this void that JDocs aims to fill for the generation of would
be surgeons in waiting.
JDocs is a competency framework that aims to provide
a guide for ongoing learning expectations and career
development matched to PGY level. It is a road map of
graduated clinical tasks and responsibilities based on the
nine RACS competencies and in line with both the Australian
Curriculum Framework for Junior Doctors (ACF-JF) and
the New Zealand Curriculum Framework for Prevocational
Training (NZCF). Like any road map, individual junior
doctors can choose their own path towards a procedural
career by meandering through as many of the highlighted
tasks in a sequence that suits their journey.
The JDocs framework is supported by a suite of resources,
such as e-learning and library resources, that can help to
achieve the selected learning outcomes. Junior doctors can
also track their progress, assessments and achievements
through the use of ePortfolios and the MALT database. The
framework and some resources are freely available from
the JDocs website (Jdocs.surgeons.org) with a subscription
option for extended resource access.
JDocs and SET Trainees
So what does a pre-vocational educational framework have
The University of Adelaide invites
applications for the Master of
Minimally Invasive Surgery for
2016. The program provides a
professional qualification for
surgeons from a wide range
of surgical subspecialties who
wish to have minimally invasive
surgery as a predominant part of
their future surgical practice.
The one year program comprises:
> online tutorials and webinars
> teaching with low and high fidelity
laparoscopic training devices
> access to simulation training in
Robotic Surgery
> the completion of a research project and;
> attendance at surgical skills workshops
in Adelaide throughout the 12 month
program.
For eligibility criteria see:
www.adelaide.edu.au/degree-finder/mmis_mmisol.html
Contact: Professor Guy Maddern
Email: guy.maddern@adelaide.edu.au Phone: (08) 8222 6756
Looking to specialise in
minimally invasive surgery?
Master of Minimally Invasive Surgery
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SURGICAL NEWS OCTOBER 2015 51